Cheap Printers

Budget general-purpose inkjet printers

Reviews indicate that sub-$100 printers generally require sacrifices in quality, speed and durability. Reviewers also struggle with recommending inkjet printers that sell for $50 or less. It's an ethical issue described by several reviewers. When a pair of replacement cartridges cost as much or more than the printer itself, then for all practical purposes, the printer is disposable. With disposed computer products already consuming too much space in landfills, no one wants to encourage the purchase of products that can exacerbate the problem.

Among lower-cost printers, we found some general praise for the Canon Pixma iP3000 series. The new Pixma iP3600 (*Est. $80) has seen little critical attention so far, but what is available is promising. About.com's guide to printers and scanners, Peter Piazza, for one, finds the iP3600 generally excellent. The iP3600 is the replacement for the Canon Pixma iP3500, which also received good reviews. In any case, reviews of the iP3500 can be applied to the iP3600. Felisa Yang, for CNet.com, reviewed the previous iP3500 model, reports that text is clear and well formed even in small font sizes. Photo quality receives some criticism for a yellow tint and slight blurriness, but Yang says that the iP3500's prints are "good enough for general home use."

Compared to the Canon Pixma iP4600 (*Est. $100), the iP3600 is missing duplex printing, but is otherwise similar, and it uses the same ink system. Piazza says speeds are fine considering the price and the output -- text and photos -- is very good. Piazza wishes this printer (and the iP4600) were a little more compact. Again, replacing the ink cartridges is expensive -- about $60 for the whole set of five inks.

The cheapest printer from Canon is the Pixma iP2600 (*Est. $50), which came to the market before the iP3600 and iP4600 and uses different inks. PC World's Melissa Riofrio is impressed with the price and the print quality for both text and photos, but underwhelmed by the print speed and minimal features. CNet.com's Justin Yu is also impressed by the print quality considering the price, but found other quibbles such as a gray cast on brighter colors. Unlike PC World, CNet.com had less of an issue with print speed, however. PC Advisor gives it a Gold award, saying it produces good print quality at a price that's "stunningly cheap." Likewise, Computer Shopper names the Pixma iP2600 as an Editors' Choice.

Like any budget printer, however, some corners are cut. No reviewers are particularly impressed with the build quality, especially a flimsy output tray, though Robin Morris at PC Advisor says there were no issues with paper jams. Like other budget choices, there's no LCD display, and memory card slots and PictBridge printing are also missing. ComputerShopper editor Josh Norem's biggest complaint is the 90-day warranty, which has no option to be extended, as compared to most other printers (including other Canons), which are backed by standard one-year warranties. Replacing the two-cartridge ink system costs nearly $40.

The competing HP Deskjet D2530 (*Est. $40) and HP Deskjet D2560 (*Est. $50) have accumulated enough user reviews to give consumers some perspective. While some owners are happy with the low cost of both models, others find them prone to problems and unsuitable for anything but light duty. In addition, the cheaper D2530 model doesn't come with a black ink cartridge, to the frustration of many consumers who print mainly text pages and don't like tossing the whole cartridge just to replace black ink.

HP's new Deskjet D2545 (*Est. $45) is called a green printer by HP, meaning that its ink cartridges are made mainly of recycled plastic. It hasn't been reviewed extensively so far, but the D2545 is slow and produces middling-quality text and color prints, according to Macworld's Chris Holt.

Lexmark's Z2420 (*Est. $80) doesn't make a big impression on reviewers. Justin Yu of CNet.com says that while text prints quicker than on some competing models, photos on the Z2420 are of markedly poor quality; he also notes a paper tray design that makes the machine prone to jams. Melissa Riofrio, of PC World, calls the Z2420 printer "mediocre," adding that it is fortunate that this printer sports wireless capabilities to boost its flexibility, because "it needs all the help it can get."

Epson introduced a new line of printers this fall. We saw a couple of reviews for the inexpensive Epson Workforce 30 (*Est. $70). It's reviewed by About.com's guide to printers and scanners, Peter Piazza, who judges it a good deal if you need a basic printer. Speeds are good and the photos turned out great, but Piazza says print quality on cheap paper wasn't as nice as it was on more expensive Epson-branded inkjet paper. The Workforce 30 uses four ink tanks; replacing them all will cost about $50.